Sugar Creek Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church), located 1.5 miles southeast of Wayland, Iowa, a member of the Iowa-Nebraska Conference, had its beginning in 1843, when Amish Mennonite settlers arrived in the area. When Joseph Goldsmith, an Amish bishop who had been living in Lee County, Iowa, moved into the community in 1855, regular church services were instituted, although he may have organized the congregation two years previously. For a period of years there were two places of worship, but in 1862 the northern part of the settlement established a separate congregation, the Eicher Emmanuel Mennonite Church. The Sugar Creek bishops were influential in the Amish Mennonite meeting (Dienerversammlung) and later in the Western District Amish Mennonite Conference. Joseph Schlegel served as bishop of the church 1868-1879, followed by Sebastian Gerig 1879-1924, Simon Gingerich 1916-1957, and Vernon Gerig 1953- . In 1950 a second meetinghouse for the congregation was dedicated, known as Bethel Mennonite Church. In 1957 the combined membership was 611, of which number 434 were in the Sugar Creek congregation. Vernon Gerig, upon the retirement of Simon Gingerich in 1957, became the leader of the church. He was assisted by Willard Liechty, minister since 1935.